CONTENT
The sentence structure determines the position of the sentence parts. It is very important in German and can be very complicated.
German
English
Ich gehe in den Supermarkt.
I'm going to the supermarket.
Der Mann ist mit der Frau um 9 Uhr morgens zum Supermarkt gegangen.
The man went to the supermarket with the woman at 9 am.
The Basics
Rule 1: A regular sentence in German could have:
- a) subject (Ich) - verb 1 (gehe) - object (in den Supermarkt).
This works for simple sentences on the beginner level.
- b) subject (Der Mann) - verb 1 (ist) - indirect object (mit der Frau) - some more facts (um 9 Uhr morgens) - direct object (zum Supermarkt) / verb 2 (gegangen).
This sentence structure appears on more advanced levels.
First Position in the Sentence
German
English
Der Hund fängt den Ball.
The dog catches the ball.
Rule 2: If we want to emphasize what is most important, we'll put it in the first position in the sentence.
German
English
Heute mache ich Kuchen!
Today, I'm making cake! (The day is important.)
Ich mache heute Kuchen!
I'm making cake today! (The subject is important.)
Kuchen mache ich heute!
I'm making cake today! (The object (the cake) is important.)
Second Position in the Sentence
Rule 3: In the basic sentence structure, the verb is always in second position in a regular sentence.
German
English
Der Hund fängt den Ball.
The dog catches the ball.
Sentence Brackets and Second Verb
Rule 4: Some verbs have a prefix or are used in combination with another verb. In main clauses, the conjugated verb stays in the second position, as usual, but the prefix or the second verb goes to the end of the sentence. This creates a sentence bracket. We stuff all important information in between.
We can have sentence brackets with:
- Perfect tense, where participle 2 will stand in the last position.
German
English
Ich habe gestern einen Kuchen gemacht.
I made a cake yesterday.
- Modal verbs, where an infinitive will stand in the last position.
German
English
Ich muss einen Kuchen machen.
I have to make a cake.
- Prefixes, when a verb is separable:
German
English
Ich bringe heute einen Kuchen mit.
I'm bringing a cake today. (from the verb mitbringen=bring along)